NEW YORK -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- In 2009 , some units of the New York Police Department still function more like `` Dragnet '' than `` CSI . '' They rely on typewriters .

Records show New York City signed a $ 432,900 contract for typewriter maintenance with in 2008 .

NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne confirmed the department 's continued , if limited , use of the 20th-century writing devices , explaining that they 're mainly used for filling out property vouchers -- forms that officers must file when they seize items during case investigations . The typewriters also are retained in case a technological meltdown disables the NYPD 's computers , he said .

The vintage typing machines do not come cheap .

Public records show that the city signed a $ 432,900 contract for typewriter maintenance with Afax Business Machines in 2008 , as well as a $ 99,570 contract with that company in 2009 . Typewriter company Swintec received a $ 982,269 contract from the city in 2007 .

Eugene O'Donnell , a former New York police officer who now lectures at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice , said the typewriters are an anachronism -- and a waste .

`` The two places you 'd find typewriters are the museum and the police department , '' O'Donnell said . Typewriters create significant efficiency and storage problems for the department , he added , causing extra labor and unwieldy paper trails .

Deputy Commissioner Browne emphasized that `` we have a $ 4 billion budget '' and the financial resources devoted to typewriters are relatively miniscule .

Officers interviewed by CNN on the street had no soft spots for the contraptions .

`` It 's so antiquated , '' said one officer who did not want to be identified .

Her partner shared her frustration . `` It 's very inconvenient -- you have to find ink , you have to find this , find that . ''

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Typewriters mainly used for filling out property voucher , says NYPD official

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Public records show city signed $ 432,900 contract for typewriter maintenance

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`` It 's so antiquated , '' said one officer